


Question of Trustworthiness

by Michevalier



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Angst, Pre-Canon, Respectfulshipping, Revspec, Slice of Life, Speculation, somehow I'm sure something like could have happened for real
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 05:32:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15574845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Michevalier/pseuds/Michevalier
Summary: There was one question Ryoken would ask over and over again over the course of the past ten years.And Spectre never failed to deliver the right answer.





	Question of Trustworthiness

**Author's Note:**

> I wonder if we would be getting any more flashbacks of their childhood... I need to know more ><

As soon as the old box was taken from the highest shelf of the closet, Spectre was forced to wince as the generous amount of dust landed on his face and made him cough terribly. After this small moment of uncomfort though the boy was unable to hold back nostalgic smile at the sight of all this stuff, "hello" from their so now far-away childhood. It sure was a good idea to take a peek in here during today's chores. There was nothing too special in this particular box's contents: some old notebooks, keychains, Ryoken-sama's old deck, several old cringey pictures Spectre and him used to draw together...

"Hmm?" but one object specifically caught Spectre's attention.

Ryoken was peacufully relaxing in the living room, sipping hot coffee with cream that Spectre did for him earlier (his coffee was always the best too) and trying to rid his mind of all restless thoughts. He was managing just fine as the sight of seagulls swaying on Stardust Road's waves and its crystally lucid surface glistening beautifully under the sun calmed him down.

"Ryoken-sama!"

The man did the most natural thing anyone would do in this situation as he turned in direction of Spectre's cheerful voice... and immediately turned pallid, almost falling off his armchair.

"Ah, sir!" sure thing Spectre immediately ran up to his master who had simultaniously spilt all his coffee onto himself and coughed violently as he happened to choke.

"NO!" Ryoken's steel blue eyes glimmered with immense fury as he threw his arm forward, making a barrier between himself and the boy. "Stay. The fuck. Away!"

The last thing Ryoken wanted right now is letting into the potentially dangerous range of his personal space the person who just a few seconds ago was pointing a freaking _gun_ at him.

"B-but your clothes..." Spectre obeyed, looking genuinely worried in a bizarre way as he held a revolver in his hands. "And your coffee was still steaming."

"Mphh..." Ryoken frowned as he sucked on the underside of his right palm as he really did get a burn.

"We must put it under water right away and..."

"Only after you put this goddamn thing away _right now_ ," young Kogami gave Spectre a killing glare, "and explain why the heck did you try to murder me!"

There was a prolonged muted pause before things took the turn Ryoken did not expect at all.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" was the only thing he could ask Spectre who burst into laughter out of blue. 

"R-Ryoken-sama..!" the boy could hardly breath. "I-It's not like tha... You've got it all wrong! Here, look! It's just a toy!"

Ryoken cautiously took the gun carelessly offered to him, but, upon thoroughly examining it, felt a huge relief as he got convinced about it being faux.

"It looks hella authentic though," he sighed.

"It does," Spectre chuckled. "And I thought the same back then. Do you remember, Ryo-sama?"

Honestly, it took some time for young Kogami to recall as he had to dive as deep into his memory as almost nine years ago.

~~~

Little Spectre was sneaking on tiptoes through the thick darkness while being totally annoyed with his own heart pounding so loud that it could have easily woken up half of Den City. Or, rather, it seemed like that to the seven year boy. At that particular age everything percepted as exaggerated, extreme, magical. The last one was something Spectre especially believed and at that very moment he was determined to do certain ritual which, he believed, could change his life forever and for the best.

Miracle helped him open the door without a single creak. It was much brighter in the room as moonlight was flowing through translucent curtains. The world painted in faint silver light... and in the middle of bedroom's cramped space — a boy in whose hair the moon got hopelessly tangled and whose fair features seemed so soft and serene as his face was gently kissed by ephemeral, ghost-like beams.

Spectre heart skipped a beat at the sight of such beauty, he nervously gulped, but it was already too late to turn back. He had to do what he came there for.

Barely, like somnambula, comprehending surrounding reality, Spectre approached the bed Ryoken-sama was peacefully sleeping in.

" _This is it_ ," the boy thought, slowly raising his arm as he gulped and felt his heart stopping right there, casting his entire universe in eerie hush.

The moon sparkled on the sharp blade... just as Ryoken's lovely blue eyes blew wide open.

Startled high-pitched "aaaahhh!!" echoed through the night and reached the stars themselves, scaring away confused birds that happened to sleep on the nearest trees.

The scream did not belong to Ryoken who hadn't lost an ounce of courage but to Spectre who was pitifully sobbing and shaking as a _gun_ was pointed directly at him.

"R-R-Ryo-sama..." the boy wailed, moisture accumulated in his eyes instanteniously.

"Don't you move!" young Kogami ordered, aiming the revolver he grabbed out of his pillow case directly at Spectre's forehead. "And drop your weapon! Now!"

Trembling from head to toes, Spectre sniffled, scissors fell down to the floor with a sonorous clank.

"P-please..." the boy raised his hands, his own light blue eyes were filled with tears that rolled down his pale from fear cheeks. "D-don't kill me... I... I didn't meant to..."

"You didn't mean to kill _me_ just now?" Ryoken asked sternly, not lowering his gun.

"I... I did not! I just..."

"Geez," young Kogami sighed and then took the aim off Spectre. "Relax. It's just a toy. Look if don't believe."

As he was allowed to come closer, the boy, still trembling badly from shock, took a hold of the revolver and, as the moonlight shone all over it, noticed that it really was nothing more than a toyish replica.

"It... It looks so real though!" Spectre forced a nervous smile, but tears got already dry on his face. 

"It does," Ryoken took the toy back and hid it under his pillow once again. "Scary, huh?"

"It is!" Spectre rubbed his eyes. "Why? Why did you need to scare me so?"

"Seriously?" young Kogami raised an eyebrow. "You're asking me this after attempting to _kill_ me?" 

Spectre's heart skipped one especially loud and painful beat, the boy felt as if the ground was knocked from under his feet.

"W-what made you think so..?" he wanted to scream, so hurt he felt, but only a slurred mumbling came out of his mouth.

Ryoken's answer was as simple as his nod towards the scissors that were still there, next to Spectre's feet.

"It's not like I'm surprised," young Kogami gave the boy a bitter chuckle. "I kinda expected that."

He took a pause, looking at Spectre's sincerely dumbfounded expression, and then chuckled again, even more bitterly as imaginary claws dug into his heart, causing it severe sharp pain.

"You must hate me, huh? After all, if it wasn't for my dad..."

"Hey, what's wrong?!" Ryoken was cut off by Aso who was woken up by the Spectre's frightened scream and bursted into the room to check what in the world happened. 

"Aso-san!" Spectre got startled, but this time his mind was clear enough so that he could immediately kick the scissors away under Ryoken's bed, away from the adult man's sight.

"Everything is fine!" Ryoken hurried to reassure their guardian. "He just ran to me because he had a nightmare!"

Aso looked at the older kid and then at the younger one, and Spectre quickly nodded, supporting the "legend".

"Are you sure?" the man gave them a doubtful look.

"T-this is true!" Spectre lied, looking right into his eyes, but, luckily, because Aso was somewhat drowsy himself he believed this half-cooked "truth".

"If everything is okay, go back to sleep," the man yawned.

"We will. Good night," Ryoken replied, seeing him off; as soon as the door was closed again and there were only the two of them and a cricket chirping right behind the window, the boy's fake smile faded.

"Ryo... sama?" Spectre's voice yet again brimmed with worry.

No response. The older boy was looking at the sickly yellowish moon, his expression was so unreadable that Spectre couldn't help feeling irrational fear.

"Ryo-sama," he swallowed his anxiety though his voice was still a bit shaky. "Why... do you think I must hate you?"

Ryoken pffted and gave him such a non-childish look that Spectre turned petrified.

"Isn't it obvious?" young Kogami cooed. "Because of what my father did to you. He kept you confined for half a year, tortured you, starved you, electrified you.  If it wasn't for me, you would have spent like that even more time. At that rate, who knows how much more pain and suffering you would have been forced to go through. You didn't deserve this. You deserve happiness. You deserve justice and..."

What was meant to come after that "and" remained a mystery as it was promptly substituted by surprised gasp when Spectre plunged forward and squeezed Ryoken tight in suffocating hug.

"Please, don't think that way..." the younger boy said quietly, trembling all over again as he was on verge of tears. "It's not like that."

"Not like what?" Ryoken whispered back in a strange, disembodied voice as he mindlessly stared at the world with his huge glassy eyes. "Do you even know what "abuse" means? That was what exactly my dad did to you. He kept you locked, he hurt you. You can't do anything about it, he's out of your reach... but not me, his son. I'm not surprised if all those smiles you give me are nothing but fake. I understand if you want to hurt me in return, I really do."

Wind rustled in the nearby trees' leaves and swayed their branches, casting sinister shadows inside Ryoken's room; those shadows were akin to some bizarre, twisted monsters with huge crooked claws and fangs that were about to rip young Kogami apart any second.

"Ryo-sama," Spectre pulled away only to look into his eyes; the look he was giving him was so intense and confident as he was trying his best to convey his true feeling not only through his words alone. "Please. Your way of thinking is smart, but..."

He took a pause to force a smile out of himself, a smile so radiant and bitter that Ryoken's heart stopped for a second.

"I'm crazy," Spectre giggled. "Many people can tell you this. I've observed them for a long time... and if they were not telling me this directly, I saw it in their eyes. _This kid is a weirdo_ , they would think. But you know what? I'm not really angry, because..."

Ryoken wasn't given any chanse to form a coherent thought when he was embraced even more gentle than before.

"Because I like Ryo-sama very much," Spectre whispered into his ear very, very quiet.

Ryoken's entire world came crashing down around him and Spectre softly kissing him on forehead didn't help it either.

"I don't hate you," the younger boy said in a voice the firmness of which not every adult possessed. "You... _You_ never did anything wrong. Ryo-sama is so good, the best person I've ever met."

"You're..." Ryoken still refused to believe his own ears.

"You're the one who got me out of that dark canyon," Spectre cupped the older boy's cheeks. "Back in the orphanage I would often have this dream: me, all alone, wondering through creepy tonnel shrouded with thick darkness... But ever since I met you, those darkness would disappear, scared away by rays of light emitted by you as you would stand at the end of that scary tonnel. Ryo-sama... I..."

"What's with the scissors then?" Ryoken frowned but for some reason never recoiled from Spectre's touch, letting him hold his cheeks.

Spectre was the one who pulled away.

"It's, uh..." blush flared up brightly on his pale face as he stuttered, looking to the side sheepishly. "P-please, don't laugh! I just read somewhere that if one takes a strand of hair of someone they like and keeps it under their pillow, the owner of that hair would visit them in their sleep and eventually... they would like them back too. So, I thought..."

Unfortunately for Spectre, Ryoken couldn't physically hold himself back from bursting into laughter.

"What kind of witchcraft is that?!"

"Ryo-sama!" Spectre whined, wholeheartedly embarassed with his face critically red.

"Joking," but then Ryoken smiled at him sweetly. "I mean, if you felt so lonely and scared to sleep alone, you should have said so from the start. If you want, let's make a deal and sleep together whenever you want?"

"Huh?" utterly confused, Spectre blinked. "But I thought... you didn't trust me?"

"If I do end up getting stabbed in my sleep," Ryoken shrugged carelessly, "then it would be on me, on my own stupidity."

"Ryo-sama..."

"Come on, just lie down already. Babies like us are supposed to be sleeping at this hour."

Spectre shyly nodded and swiftly got under Ryoken's blanket, snuggling up as the older boy wrapped his arms around him, letting him nestle close to his chest.

"Remember, I trust you enough to keep nothing more than a toy gun under my pillow," whisper echoed in the night.

"No need to worry," came a stubborn response. "A weirdo like me would never hurt you."

The vow was given in the presense of moon that is so fickle that its form is never the same, changing every night...

~~~

Having changed into clean clothes, Ryoken was submerged into his thoughts as he looked at the ocean from the balcony in his room.

"Ryoken-sama," Spectre emerged next to him, offering him a mug with steaming coffee. "Here, you never had a chanse to finish that one, so..."

Ryoken accepted it, but wasn't in a hurry to drink it; instead he gave Spectre a hard unreadable look.

"Um, sir..?" the latter suddenly, as if he was enchanted, couldn't take his gaze off the way his master took a small sip of the said coffee and then, paralyzed, watched Ryoken's lips approaching his own. 

The ocean waves melody drowned in the drumming of Spectre's heart, sunshine disappeared into thick darkness as he closed his eyes and let himself melt into this soft kiss. The kiss turned sweeter than usual as sweet coffee trickled between Spectre's own lips, soothing him, taking away all exhaustion he had after spending several hours doing chores.

"No poison," Ryoken said as he pulled away and wiped his mouth.

"Huh..?" taken aback, Spectre blinked, his lips ached, deprived of the sweet touch.

"If there was one," Ryoken chuckled, "I would have taken you to grave with me."

"Were you..." Spectre whispered as light ocean breeze teased him, playing with his bangs, "questioning my trustworthiness again, sir?"

"Nah, just joking," young Kogami caressed his cheek tenderly. "Paying back for your joke with "the gun" if you will."

"Ryo-sama," Spectre purred, nuzzling into his touch softly. "I had exactly a billion opportunities to kill you if I ever wanted this."

"I know..." the man said quetly, leaning back in his beloved's arms.

Spectre held onto his boyfriend lovingly, smiling blissfully and rubbing his back reassuringly.

If there was something fickle here at the moment — it was this fresh breeze, not him. 

He was certain that ten years by Kogami Ryoken's side and one death, even if just temporal, couldn't serve as nothing but the most vivid proof of his endless affection and loyalty...

And Ryoken, squeezing him in embrace to the point of pain, supported this fully.


End file.
